Global Health Journalism
Apply for the Hopkins-Pulitzer Global Health Reporting Fellowship by March 15.
As a student at the Bloomberg School, Michelle Ferng’s studies in Health Systems focused on policy development and cost-effective strategies to improve global health.
It was her photography, however, that took her from policy research into people’s lives and landed her in their stories.
As the 2014 recipient of the Johns Hopkins-Pulitzer Center Global Health Reporting Fellowship, she merged her academic and creative pursuits in Peru, documenting the issue of elder abuse through photography and reporting.
“Being a journalist and photographer... grounds you in the voices of people who aren’t usually heard,” says Ferng, MSPH ’14. “It’s a dive into complex, individual circumstances that you don’t often get in policymaking, research or implementation.”
The fellowship, which includes a stipend of up to $5,000, represents a collaboration between the Bloomberg School and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. It offers public health students the opportunity to work with seasoned journalists at the Pulitzer Center in Washington, D.C. before undertaking an on-the-ground reporting project about a global health issue of their choice.
Ferng, whose powerful photojournalism is featured in the spring issue of Johns Hopkins Public Health, recently returned to the School—via Skype from Taiwan—to share her experiences with students interested in applying for a 2015 fellowship.
She presented a slideshow of her photos, depicting isolated and vulnerable seniors. She also talked directly with students about the logistics of foreign reporting, her Pulitzer training and her motivation in applying for the fellowship.
“If we really think that all humans are equally entitled to fundamental rights, then we have to confront the realities facing vulnerable older adults,” she says.
The Hopkins-Pulitzer fellowship is open to all current students in degree programs at the Bloomberg School , including May 2015 graduates. The application deadline is March 15.
The 2013 fellow, Varsha Ramakrishnan, MBBS, MPH ’13, reported on dowry violence in India. Her article, “A Broken Promise” in Johns Hopkins Public Health magazine, earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
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